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The Nardi shows Formula Vee’s rich history

The famous Nardi takes a lap around Daytona International Speedway. Photo by VOLKSWAGEN

“The Nardi” has a special place in the hearts of Volkswagen motorsports fans, but few know the full story of the first-ever Formula Vee car.

It all started in Florida in the mid-1950s, when Miami hardware-store owner Hubert Brundage decided he wanted to create a Formula Junior car using standard Volkswagen parts.

Unable to do the work himself, Brundage commissioned famed racecar driver, engineer and designer Enrico Nardi to build his car for him. Brundage shipped a brand-new 1958 113 VW Beetle to Torino, Italy -- and Nardi went to work.

The designer took the car apart, separating the engine, transmission and suspension. He then created the tube-like, one-seat racecar that is recognized as today’s Formula Vee car.

“It was a beautiful car,” Brundage’s son Jan said. “It was very different from anything else that was out at the time.”

It was not only very different, but, as Formula Jr. cars were steadily rising in cost and becoming obsolete, Brundage’s new car gave him an idea.

Brundage thought that his Nardi-made car could be easily and inexpensively reproduced, making more cost-effective race cars.

“So he sold it,” Jan said. “He didn’t do it to make a profit. He did it to help make better racecars.”

Brundage “sold” his Nardi to Bill Duckworth and George Smith for $1, with the knowledge that they were going to try to reproduce the aluminum-bodied car to make 10-20 fiberglass-bodied cars. The new cars, all using components of the VW Beetle, were to start a new racing series in central Florida (that would later become Formula Vee).

Duckworth and Smith -- who later started the racecar-building company Formcar Constructors in Orlando, Fla. -- used the Nardi as the mold for fiberglass-bodied cars. After four years, they sold 500 or so cars. The cars sold as kits for $1,000, ready-mades for $2,400. Smith, who was involved in the administration of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), talked to the club’s sanctioning body and pitched a new series, which would become Formula Vee. After much discussion, the idea took off, and Formula Vee cars became a very popular way to break into formula racing.

Duckworth and Smith then retired from their business and sold the Nardi. For years that was the logical ending to the birth for Formula Vee.

However, the story gets more interesting.

Years later, in the early 1970s, after the senior Brundage had died, Jan Brundage was reading the classified section of Autoweek and he saw an ad for an “aluminum-bodied Nardi.”

“My mouth just dropped,” he said. “I knew it was my dad’s car. It was so coincidental, because I never read the classifieds. I just happened to see it.”

Brundage knew that there was only one aluminum Nardi ever made, and he knew that he had to have it.

“I called the guy and he wanted $1,400. I didn’t even hesitate. I told him the check was in the mail.”

Actually, Brundage sent a friend up to Ohio to check the car out before buying it. It turned out that it was the Nardi. Brundage, who felt that the car was a big part of his family’s history, bought the car and put it in storage.

“I just wanted to have it,” he said. “I never really wanted to do much more with it.”

However, Brundage had no idea how important the Formula Vee series would prove to be to the people who participated in it. As time went by, former drivers started having Formula Vee reunions and get-togethers. Brundage even went to one in the mid-80s, and saw the how much people still loved the old Formula Vee cars.

After that, Brundage had it restored.

“We wanted to make it like new. It’s a big part of Formula Vee history.”

Since then, the car has been at several Formula Vee events, including the series 40th birthday celebration at Road America and, most recently, at the series’ 50th anniversary at Daytona last week.